Thursday, January 4, 2018

Letters to your loved ones...

If you are wondering where to start your analogue adventure this year... I would love to share one place where we can all begin our journey from. It's simple. Just open a page on a notebook and start writing a letter to someone special whenever you can. I started writing letters to our girls back in October, 2014. It was my way of scrapbooking our day and to create more space to reflect on the memories we were creating. Since then, I have written/drawn some form of (almost) daily letters for them. At the beginning, I was writing and documenting and thought they might enjoy looking back to these notebooks when they grow up. Since the beginning of 2017, I shifted the contents a little and started writing directly to them each night so they can wake up every morning to read the letter from the previous night. Sometimes they forget reading. Sometimes it's just one word I write on the page. I tuck letters they receive from their friends and families in there too. In few occasions, they leave me their notes and drawings on the pages and I treasure them. In 2017, I used TN refills to savor this tradition and was able to compile all the notebooks I used for each girl in the archive binder on the last day of the year. The TN system worked really well in 2017 since it was our most traveled year and I wanted to take a TN refill notebook for each girl with me in a suitcase so I can keep writing to them while on the road. The monthly tabs from TN Customized Sticker Set came handy to keep the refills in a chronological order. I watched both Satchi and Coco picking up the archived letters address to them and flip through the pages and it was truly priceless. This year, I decided to go back to the minimalistic MD Diary (which I used back in 2015). One for Satchi and one for Coco. I am hoping to capture my letters to them as well as the drawings and letters they make for me in this notebook. Also to use the monthly pages as a way to help them orient their days in a context of month and year. So I hope this year... if you are wondering where to start..., I hope you start writing to a person who is in your mind. It could be a friend, a family, or a stranger you run into the day. The letter can be read by the addressed person or not. I believe in the act of pouring our hearts out in order for us to connect with the world around us. Just imagine how peaceful our world would be if we choose to spend more of our time writing to someone we love...

Here are some photos from 2017 letters and first few pages from 2018 letters to our girls. I hope they bring little bit of sparkles and inspiration to your analogue journey. xoxo-wakako2017 Letters to Satchi & Coco with TN